Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney doesn’t seem troubled by income inequality, but his economic advisor, Harvard professor Gregory Mankiw, says he is worried. “Widening income inequality is a real and […]
Economics
Posted inEconomy, The Download
Senator 1 Percent leads battle for the 99 percent
There’s a certain irony in seeing the wealthiest man in the US Senate arguing against tax cuts for the richest Americans. US Sen. John Kerry stuck to the script as […]
Posted inEconomy, Education, Politics, The Download
From American Dream to “American Scream”
“Occupy” protesters with tents pitched in city parks and loud marches in scores of US cities have been beating a drum figuratively — and sometimes literally — about the economic […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download
Boston protests: It’s the economy, stupid
Yesterday’s announcement that Bank of America would begin next year charging customers $5 a month for the long-free privilege of using a debit card to make purchases could hardly have […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download
Justice sends clear signal to AT&T: No more T’s
The Justice Department’s decision to sue to disconnect the conversation between AT&T and T-Mobile is being hailed by many consumer advocates as a victory for competition even as it comes […]
Posted inEconomy, Environment, The Download
Evergreen Solar, R.I.P.
The editorial obituaries for Evergreen Solar, which filed for bankruptcy protection this week, varied depending on the politics of the newspaper. The Boston Herald said the bankruptcy means the state’s […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download
Debt clock ticking
This morning the washingtonpost.com’s debt countdown clock reads 5 days and 13 hours until a government default. The news media and politicians are wading into the murky water of what […]
Posted inEconomy, Environment, Health Care, The Download
The Download: Brown’s DiMasi diversion
US Sen. Scott Brown doesn’t want to talk about Osama bin Laden. He does, however, have plenty to say about the disgraced former speaker of the House, Sal DiMasi. DiMasi […]
Posted inEconomy, Environment, Politics, The Download
The Download: Nuclear fear factors
Fears about nuclear power increase with each new, catastrophic development in Japan. In Germany, people took to the streets after last week’s earthquake to protest against nuclear power. Not needing […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, The Download
The Download: First and goal
Union matters seem to dominate the 24-hour news cycle these days. From Wisconsin’s governor looking to eviscerate his state’s public sector unions; to Ohio being on the verge of doing […]
Posted inEconomy, State House News Service, The Download
The Download: Cash for credits
The US Tax Court is making it easier to turn tax credits into cash. Travis Blais, a Mintz Levin tax attorney, issued an alert about a recent decision that he […]
Posted inEconomy, Education, Politics, The Download
The Download: Map quest
It’s a decennial dance that makes sausage-making look like an art form. Congressional redistricting, mandated every 10 years by the federal census, is once again playing out in all corners […]
Posted inEconomy, Environment, State House News Service, The Download
The Download: House hunting
Headlines about housing woes are usually followed by tales of low-income families squeezed by the sky-high cost of housing in Greater Boston. But that very difficult reality has obscured a […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, The Download
The Download: Pondering patronage
Former Senate president Billy Bulger practiced the trade with such abandon that MBTA was said to stand for “Mr. Bulger’s Transportation Authority,” an only partially tongue-in-cheek reference that seemed to […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download
High housing costs still pricing many out
By Paul McMorrow The housing bust has done little to ease the pressure housing costs exert on working families in eastern Massachusetts, a new report from the Urban Land Institute […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download
Elizabeth Warren, “Bostonian of the Year,” as seen in CW magazine
The Boston Globe has named Harvard professor Elizabeth Warren "Bostonian of the Year" for bringing a "sense of sanity to the economic crisis." In 2003, long before the economic crash, […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download
Report finds state’s “quality of life” is key IT industry driver
The UMass Donahue Institute released a comprehensive report yesterday profiling the state’s IT industry. Gov. Deval Patrick gathered with Massachusetts IT leaders for a presentation by the study’s lead author, […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, The Download
Competing non-competes
Tomorrow the Legislature's Committee on Labor and Workforce Development holds a hearing on two bills that, depending on whom you ask, could either invigorate or eviscerate the state's high-tech industry. […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download
Combatting the debt culture
David Brooks says we need to get ready for the next culture war. Not a divisive showdown over social issues to be dreaded, this is a battle, he says, to […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download
Whip City aims to become Warehouse City
Tuesday, September 8, 2009 The city of Westfield, once renowned for the manufacture of horse whips, is now looking toward the trucking industry for economic salvation.
Posted inEconomy, The Download
Huge job losses haven’t spread to public sector — yet
Does a government job protect you from recessionary pink slips? Maybe in the short term. Employment by state and local governments — here in Massachusetts and across the US — […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download
The 2009 export market for calculating Massachusetts (and scrappy Rhode Island)
The Herald's Jay Fitzgerald reports that exports from Massachusetts companies fell by 20 percent in the first half of 2009, "thanks to the global recession." (Nationally, the drop in exports […]
